logo
Trump admin officials rip CNN, MSNBC for refusing to air Rachel Morin's mom's emotional White House remarks: ‘SHAMEFUL'

Trump admin officials rip CNN, MSNBC for refusing to air Rachel Morin's mom's emotional White House remarks: ‘SHAMEFUL'

Yahoo17-04-2025

Several Trump administration officials took CNN and MSNBC to task Wednesday over their refusal to cover Patty Morin's White House remarks — in which she described the barbaric rape and murder of her daughter, Rachel, by an illegal immigrant.
During the 'Angel Mom's' speech in the White House briefing room, MSNBC opted to instead cover Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) rally in Montana and interview Puck News columnist John Heilemann, according to Mediaite.
Over on CNN, the network discussed Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom and ran a segment on the NBA, the outlet reported.
White House communications director Steven Cheung described it as 'shameful' that the two left-leaning networks didn't cover Patty Morin's remarks.
'SHAMEFUL that [CNN] and [MSNBC] refuses to take Angel Mom Patty Morin as she recounts the terrible tragedy of how an illegal killed her sweet daughter, Rachel,' Cheung wrote on X.
Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk replied with a '100' emoji on Cheung's post.
Senior White House adviser Stephen Miller declared that CNN's and MSNBC's 'contempt for the victims of migrant crime is reprehensible.'
Meanwhile, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr accused the networks of failing to 'serve the public interest' by cutting away from the briefing where White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also shared information linking Kilmar Abrego Garcia — an illegal immigrant whose deportation is at the center of a legal battle — to the MS-13 gang.
'Comcast outlets spent days misleading the American public — implying that Abrego Garcia was merely a law abiding U.S. citizen, just a regular 'Maryland man,'' Carr wrote on X.
'When the truth comes out, they ignore it,' the Trump administration official added.
CNN is owned by WarnerMedia while MSNBC is owned by NBCUniversal, a Comcast subsidiary.
'Comcast knows that federal law requires its licensed operations to serve the public interest. News distortion doesn't cut it,' Carr continued. 'Abrego Garcia came to America illegally from El Salvador, was validated as a member of the violent MS13 gang — a transnational criminal organization — and was denied bond by an immigration court for failure to show he would not pose a danger to others.
'Why does Comcast ignore these facts of obvious public interest?'
Representatives for CNN and MSNBC did not respond to The Post's request for comment.
During her remarks, Patty Morin went into graphic detail to describe the 2023 rape and murder of her 37-year-old daughter in Maryland by Victor Martinez-Hernandez, a 24-year-old Salvadoran illegal immigrant who was convicted of the crime earlier this week.
Morin also expressed outrage that Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) is pushing for Abrego Garcia's release from a megaprison in El Salvador while having 'barely' acknowledged the death of her daughter, a mother of five children.
'There was no remorse on his face at all,' Morin said of her daughter's killer. 'These are the kind of criminals President Trump wants to remove from our country. These are the kind of criminals that we need to remove from our country.
'I don't care about politics. Well, I do, but I want to preserve life, and that's the only reason why I have spoken about Rachel.'

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Australia's defense minister downplays concerns over Pentagon review of multi-billion submarine deal
Australia's defense minister downplays concerns over Pentagon review of multi-billion submarine deal

Hamilton Spectator

time16 minutes ago

  • Hamilton Spectator

Australia's defense minister downplays concerns over Pentagon review of multi-billion submarine deal

BANGKOK (AP) — Australia's defense minister dismissed concerns Thursday that a deal between the U.S., Australia and Britain to provide his country with nuclear-powered submarines could be in jeopardy, following a report that the Pentagon had ordered a review. Australian Defense Minister Richard Marles told Sky News Australia that he had known about the review of the deal 'for some time,' saying that it was a 'very natural step for the incoming administration to take.' He noted that the UK's government also reviewed the deal, the centerpiece of a three-way alliance known as AUKUS after it was elected, and that his own government had looked at it as part of its own review of Australia's entire defense posture. 'I think an incoming government having a look at this is something that they have a perfect right to do and we welcome it and we'll work with it,' he said. The deal, worth more than $200 billion, was signed between the three countries in 2021 under then President Joe Biden, designed to provide Australia, one of Washington's staunchest allies in the region, with greater maritime capabilities to counter China's increasingly strong navy . The deal also involves the U.S. selling several of its Virginia-class submarines to Australia to bridge the gap as the new submarines are being jointly built. In January, Australia made the first of six $500 million payments to the U.S. under the AUKUS deal, meant to bolster American submarine manufacturing. Marles met with U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on the sidelines of a defense conference in Singapore less than two weeks ago, and told reporters afterward that he had come away with 'a sense of confidence about the way in which AUKUS is proceeding.' 'AUKUS is on track and we are meeting all the timelines that are associated with it,' he said. 'We are very optimistic.' Hegseth's address to the defense forum made multiple mentions of cooperation with Australia but no reference to AUKUS, however, though he did later mention the deal when he was taking questions. Hegseth did urge allies in the Indo-Pacific to increase their defense spending, and underscored the need for a 'strong, resolute and capable network of allies and partners' as the U.S. seeks to counter China. Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page .

IU's governance crisis reflects dangerous trend undermining democracy
IU's governance crisis reflects dangerous trend undermining democracy

Indianapolis Star

time18 minutes ago

  • Indianapolis Star

IU's governance crisis reflects dangerous trend undermining democracy

Recent commentary in IndyStar defended Indiana University's leadership and questioned the focus and intensity of faculty criticism. But what's happening at IU isn't just a campus controversy — it's part of a national trend. Across the country, public institutions are quietly dismantling the democratic processes that once guided their decisions. IU has become a flashpoint not because of any one leader or protest, but because it shows how shared governance and expert input are being replaced by top-down control. For over a century, American universities have followed a model known as shared governance. That means faculty, administrators and trustees work together to shape a school's mission and values. It's not just tradition — it's a safeguard. It ensures that decisions about teaching, research and student life are made by the people who do the work. In recent years, IU's shared governance has been steadily eroded through a series of top-down decisions. The April 2024 no-confidence vote in President Pamela Whitten by IU Bloomington faculty — 827 to 29 — wasn't about politics or personalities. It was a response to a pattern: refusing to recognize graduate workers' union efforts; sending state police to arrest peaceful protestors in Dunn Meadow; and canceling a long-planned exhibition by Palestinian-American artist Samia Halaby without consulting curators or faculty committees. These decisions bypassed longstanding university processes like faculty review, shared governance consultation and curatorial oversight — processes that have historically guided how academic and cultural decisions are made. Now, that erosion has been written into law. Indiana's House Enrolled Act 1001, passed in 2024, officially reduced faculty governance to an 'advisory only' role. Some argue that faculty governance was always advisory in practice — but this law removes any doubt. It replaces collaboration with control. Opinion: I was running for IU Board of Trustees — until Mike Braun took it over What is happening at IU is a symptom of a pattern playing out more broadly. We're seeing the slow dismantling of democratic decision-making in public institutions. At the federal level, the National Institutes of Health was recently blocked from posting notices in the Federal Register, which froze the review of over 16,000 new research grant applications — worth about $1.5 billion. Around the same time, the agency abruptly canceled more than 1,400 already awarded grants, halting active research projects without the usual expert review or explanation. Both the review of new applications and the continuation of awarded grants typically rely on deliberative panels of scientists to ensure decisions are fair, transparent and based on merit. In both of these cases, those processes were bypassed. Though some meetings have resumed, the damage is clear: Critical systems can be disrupted with little warning and no input from the people who are supposed to guide them. Other federal agencies have followed suit. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration have recently bypassed their own expert advisory committees in making major public health decisions. The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee was not convened to review or vote on the 2024–2025 influenza vaccine strain selection, breaking with decades of precedent. Around the same time, both ACIP and VRBPAC were sidelined in the rollout of new COVID-19 vaccine guidance and, just this week, the entire 17-member ACIP committee was fired. A top CDC vaccine adviser resigned, citing concerns that the agency was ignoring its own deliberative processes. Whether in universities or federal agencies, the pattern is the same: Leaders are cutting out the people who should have a voice. That might seem faster or easier — but it comes at a profound and ultimately self-defeating cost. When decisions are made without input from those most affected, institutions don't just lose trust — they undermine their own legitimacy and effectiveness. And in a democracy, trust is everything. Opinion: IU deserves a serious president. Pamela Whitten must go. This isn't a partisan issue. No matter your politics, the loss of open, thoughtful decision-making should be alarming. Processes like faculty governance, peer review and public advisory boards aren't meant to slow things down or push a political agenda. They exist because they lead to better decisions. When they're ignored, we don't just lose transparency. We lose trust. Indiana's public universities — and all public institutions — can only succeed when decisions are made with the people who do the work, not imposed on them from above. When we exclude the experts, educators, scientists, and advisors who sustain these institutions, we don't just weaken the process. We weaken the outcomes.

Donald Trump's 'Les Miserables' Appearance Sparks Avalanche of Jokes, Memes
Donald Trump's 'Les Miserables' Appearance Sparks Avalanche of Jokes, Memes

Newsweek

time28 minutes ago

  • Newsweek

Donald Trump's 'Les Miserables' Appearance Sparks Avalanche of Jokes, Memes

Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump's attendance at a performance of Les Miserables at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, during which he received cheers and boos from sections of the crowd, triggered a wave of jokes and memes on social media. Newsweek contacted the White House and the Kennedy Center for comment on Thursday via email and online inquiry form, respectively, outside regular office hours. Why It Matters Following his second presidential inauguration in January, Trump fired most of the Kennedy Center's board of trustees, replacing them with allies and appointing himself as chairman. The president attended the show in Washington, D.C., against a backdrop of days of anti-immigration enforcement protests in Los Angeles, some of which have turned violent. In response, his administration ordered 4,000 California National Guard troops and 700 Marines against the wishes of Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom. What To Know On Wednesday, the president and first lady Melania Trump attended the opening night of Les Miserables at the Kennedy Center. Other prominent figures in attendance included Vice President JD Vance, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Attorney General Pam Bondi. Footage of the event shows Trump receiving cheers and boos from the audience. According to CNN, one woman appeared to be escorted out after shouting, "Convicted felon, rapist!" Les Miserables is a musical adaptation of the Victor Hugo novel of the same name. It is set against the backdrop of the 1832 June Rebellion in Paris, a failed insurrection against French King Louis Philippe that was suppressed by government troops. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arriving to attend the opening night of "Les Miserables" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on June 11. President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump arriving to attend the opening night of "Les Miserables" at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., on June 11. ALEX WROBLEWSKI/AFP/GETTY On X, Newsom shared a screenshot of an NBC News headline about the president's attendance, writing, "Someone explain the plot to him." The post has received more than 60,000 likes and 1.9 million views. User @BlueATLGeorgia, a pro-Democrat account with 39,000 followers, wrote: "Les Misérables is a story of social unrest, especially the June Rebellion, where young idealists rise up against inequality and government oppression. "Young people fight for justice, calling for reforms and dignity for the poor. The government responds to the rebellion with heavy force, resulting in bloodshed. Sound familiar?" A Michigan business called That Gay Guy Candle Co. wrote: "Trump's going to see Les Mis tonight? That's ironic." User @Betches_News told its 25,000 followers, "Trump and Melania watching Les Mis at the Kennedy Center tonight like." Below the caption, it shared a photo of a shocked woman asking: "Wait. Is this f*****g play about us?" User @toyjawn1 wrote, "Trump ... watching Les Mis ... with tickets upwards of the amount of an ordinary person's whole life wages," above a GIF of a man rubbing his face with an iron. During Thursday's performance, a number of drag performers sat below the presidential box in what one described as a "message of inclusivity." Before the performance, Trump attended a VIP reception with paid attendees. He told reporters that $10 million was raised for the Kennedy Center. What People Are Saying Kennedy Center Interim Director Richard Grenell, commenting on reports that some actors did not want to perform in front of President Donald Trump, said: "Any performer who isn't professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won't be welcomed. In fact, we think it would be important to out those vapid and intolerant artists to ensure producers know who they shouldn't hire—and that the public knows which shows have political litmus tests to sit in the audience." Darlene Webb, a Trump supporter who was at the performance, told CNN about the jeers: "I just wanted to clap and yell over it, because at this type of performance I don't think it was good for them to do that, professionally." Cara Segur, Webb's friend, told the outlet: "Seeing some of the actors and actresses, it looked like they were singing at him, instead of just singing to the crowd. And it felt really powerful and I liked it." What Happens Next On Saturday, a military parade is due to take place in Washington, D.C., to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army. The day also marks Trump's 79th birthday. The "No Kings" movement has organized demonstrations against Trump across the U.S., with 1,800 events planned for Saturday.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store